The nation's fourth-largest city lay paralyzed, sweltering and almost completely blacked-out yesterday as frustrated residents waited in vain for promised federal disaster aid to be distributed more than 36 hours after Hurricane Ike tore through the region. Worried authorities extended a dusk-to-dawn curfew to prevent looting across the eerily darkened city.

Rep. John Culberson, a Republican who represents the western part of Houston, excoriated FEMA for failing to supply police and other first responders who were assisting in the hurricane disaster. At a staging center for first responders in his district, Culberson said, police were out of food and water, and he appealed to area residents to donate provisions from their own depleted pantries.

He also noted that phone repair crews from AT&T were sitting idled at the staging center because they had run out of fuel for their trucks.

Webmaster's Commentary:

When it comes to the federal government being of any kind of help whatsoever in a disaster like this, citizens have to realize that they are absolutely on their own.